FRANGIPANE TART

This wonderful, absolutely over-the-top delicious tart is from masterchef. It makes you melt from within (sighs)

Recipe:

flour, for dusting
1/4 cup strawberry jam, heated
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet raspberries
1 punnet strawberries
whipped cream, to serve

Pastry:
375g plain flour
50g icing sugar
200g butter
1 egg

Frangipane:
125g butter, diced
125g icing sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
125g almond meal
25ml dark rum

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base of a 18cm loose
bottomed tart tin.

Step 2: To make the pastry, add the flour, icing sugar and butter to the bowl of a
food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add
the egg and pulse again until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling wrap,
then rest in the fridge for about 1 hour.

Step 3: On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the pastry until 3-4mm thick.
(you can freeze the remaining pastry for up to 4 weeks). Line the tart tin with
pastry, then rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Step 4: For the frangipane, cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until
pale and fluffy. Add the eggs and egg yolk, one at a time until incorporated in
the mixture. Fold in the almond meal and dark rum.

Step 5: Remove the tart tin from the fridge. Brush half of the strawberry jam over
the bottom of the tart, then spread the frangipane on top. Scatter over half of the
berries, pressing lightly into the mixture. Bake in the oven for 30-35 until golden
and cooked through. Remove from the oven and brush lightly with remaining
strawberry jam. Serve with whipped cream and remaining berries.

OH! YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS!

NONYA NONYA!

Who would have thought? Nonya is actually pretty easy to cook, when you have a recipe book!

Today, I decided to make a Nonya trio--- Yellow rice with fried tamarind chicken and garlic kangkong.

Yellow rice recipe:
1 tsp of ginger pounded
4 garlic clovews
6 shallots sliced thinly

1 cinnamon quill
8 cloves
8 caramondon, slightly bruised
115g butter
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
1 tbs lime juice
625g basmati rice
1 L water boiling

salt to season
1 chicken stock cube

Heat oil in wok. Add ginger and fry till brown, then add in garlic and shallots.
Add cinnamon quill, cloves and caramondom and stirfry, then add tumeric and lime juice.
Then add rice and stir fry until liquid is absorbed and transfer to rice cooker. Dissolve chicken stock in water and add liquid to rice cooker. Add salt. Cook rice :)

Tamarind chicken
1.2 kg chicken, quartered

marinade:
3 tbs tamarind pulp
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp soy sauce
8 tbs water

Combine marinade ingredients in bowl. Wash chicken and wipe with kitchen towel until very dry. Prick chicken all over with fork and rub all over with marinade, leave to stand for 45 minutes.
In wok, heat oil until very hot, and add chicken, and reduce heat to moderate.
Fry until light brown, dry and crispy.

Garlic Kangkong
1 bunch of kangkong
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 cup dried shrimp

Soak shrimp in 1/2 cup hot water for 1/2 hour.
Heat oil and fry garlic until fragrant,then add shrimp and fry. Add kangkong and shrimp water and fry.

My favourite "Dad's dish"

This is my dad's specialty dish :) He would spend the afternoon cooking his black bean bitter gourd pork rib stew/braised meat dish over a small charcoal stove in our backyard :) One BIG word. YUM!

I haven't eaten in a while (being in Melbourne and all), and decided to get his secret recipe while my family was here 2 weeks ago and try it out.

It almost turned out to be a disaster because I decided to skip the step of blanching the bitter gourd. Opps. The stew became a jaw-clenching-chilly bitter at its initial stages (Liam,Annette and Katie tried it and were quite baffled by its effect)and but was later saved with some goggling and wiki-ing (Liam's solution to everything).Phew.

So... if you ever make the same mistake as i did... Put more black bean sauce (which counteracts the bitter gourd) but please do remember to dilute the stew later to make it less salty :)

I have modified the recipe a little :)

Recipe for 6:
2 bitter gourds
1.5 kg of Pork Ribs
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbs sesame oil
4 tbs black bean sauce
1 tbs light soy sauce
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 tbs kecip black sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup shao xing cooking wine
salt and pepper

Slice bitter gourd and blanch in boiling water for 3-4 minutes!! Fry the garlic and pork ribs together until the meat is browned. Add in the bitter gourd and fry for while. Then add all other sauces and stock, and bring to boil, and then leave to simmer for an 1 hr until the meat is softened. Serve with steamed rice :) Enjoy!

I CHOOSE CUPCAKES!

It's true. These little cups of heaven bring bubbles of joy and excitement to everyone!!! And I reckon that these jewels are the best way to celebrate the launch my food avanture blog :)

To Papa, Mummy and Noreen, THANK YOU so much for visiting me in Melbourne!! It really meant alot. I solely dedicate these cupcakes to you guys :) I hope the visual food would be enough to cheer you up after a hard day's work.

This recipe has been taken for Donna Hay's latest kid's annual magazine and it is simply divine!! Bless them fluffy, light cupcakes and their creamy, buttery icing accomplice!! They are definitely the best cupcakes I've ever tasted (even the ones in Melbourne)!

Recipe for 24 cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups of plain flour (sifted)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (sifted)
1 3/4 cups caster sugar
250g butter, melted
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Preheat oven to 160*C. Mix all the ingredients in the bowl in a large bowl with an electric mixer until well combined. Simple as that. Spoon into cupcake/muffin tins lined with paper cups, and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Have them for afternoon tea (or even breakfast.Hee..) Bring them to work to share the joy!!